black swan | a. skywalker

( CHAPTER 3 )

     "Captain Typho has more than enough men downstairs. No assassin will try that way. Any activity up here?" Obi-Wan entered the upstairs area. His apprentice looked down at the balcony, looking at the different sights.

     "Quiet as a tomb. I don't like just waiting here for something to happen to either of them," Anakin expressed.

     Obi-Wan quickly checked palm-sized view scanner he has pulled out of his utility belt. It showed a shot of Artoo by the door, but no sign of Padmé on the bed.

     "What's going on?" Obi-Wan questioned.

     Anakin shrugged. "She covered that camera. I don't think she liked me watching her," Anakin answered.

     "What is she thinking?" Obi-Wan muttered, and quickly changed the camera view to Kyra's room.

     "She programmed Artoo to warn us if there's an intruder," Anakin informed his master.

     "It's not an intruder I'm worried about. There are many other ways to kill a Senator, and a Jedi," Obi-Wan added as the view of Kyra's room came onto screen.

     It was a clear shot of Kyra. The brunette, tan skinned mass amidst the white bedsheets and pillows, and fast asleep. Seeing her chest rise and fall evenly, and that her camera hadn't been covered made Obi-Wan sigh in relief.

     "I know, but we also want to catch this assassin. Don't we, Master?" Anakin asked as he, too, looked at the image of a sleeping Kyra.

     "You're using them as bait?" Obi-Wan asked his apprentice, bewildered that he would do such a thing.

     "It was their idea. . . Mainly Padmé's. No harm will come to them. I can sense everything going on in those rooms. Trust me," Anakin assured his rather skeptical master.

     "It's too risky. . . and your senses aren't that attuned, young apprentice," Obi-Wan replied.

     "And yours are?" Anakin countered.

     "Possibly," Obi-Wan shrugged.

     As Padmé was fast asleep, a probe droid approached outside her window. It sent out several small arms that attached to the window, creating sparks that shut down the security system. Then a large arm cut a small hole in the glass. A faint sound was heard as the small section of glass was removed from the window.

     Artoo woke up, and his lights turned on. The probe droid froze. Artoo looks around, makes a plaintive little sound, then promptly shut down again. The probe droid attached a little tube to the window. Two deadly looking centipede like Kouhuns exited the tube, crawled through the blinds and headed toward the sleeping Padmé.

     The droid replaces the glass onto the window, then promptly flew off. It arrived at the next room, where Kyra could be heard snoring softly. The probe droid repeated the procedure of cutting a shape in the glass.

     A bounty hunter, footsteps as light as a feather, creeper around the corner of the building. A piece of glass the exact shape of her was cut and she had slipped inside easily. With a small command, the glass was fitted back into the spot, and looked as though it had never been there.